Singularity Hub | Ray Kurzweil for president (seriously?)

February 12, 2012

Ray Kurzweil has made a name for himself by forecasting important trends in consumer technology, global politics, and computer intelligence. Yet even Kurzweil couldn’t predict the latest disruptive event in his life: Ray’s running for U.S. President in 2012! Well…kind of.

The noted author, inventor, and futurist is a well known, and widely admired, figure in the Singularity community. He cofounded Singularity University, advocates the importance of understanding exponential growth in intelligence via lectures around the world, and has been featured in several documentaries. In other words Kurzweil has plenty of fans among futurists.

As it turns out, at least one of those fans thinks he should run for president, and has started the ball rolling using Americans Elect. AE is an online organization hoping to add a third party presidential candidate to the national ballot in 2012. The not-for-profit is open to electing anyone nominated (and supported) by their delegates – and any US citizen can be a delegate.

So, as of 12:01pm PST on February 10, 2012, Kurzweil’s name is in the running to be AE’s candidate. Is he a serious contender? Ha! Note even close. I doubt Mr. Kurzweil even knows he’s been added to the list of potential nominees. But putting Ray’s name into the Americans Elect system highlights how easy and accessible that organization is…and how much potential they have to change American politics. [...]